List of Lion Facts
Posted in Science
A male lion's roar can be heard up to 5 miles away.
The Term "King of the Beast" is misleading because a lion will run from many creatures, including elephants and rhinoceros.
A group of Lions is called a "Pride"
A female Lion is called a "Lioness"
The hunting grounds for a pride of lions can range from 8 to 150 square miles.
The largest lion on record was almost 11 feet long and weighed nearly 700 pounds.
A lion's average life span is 13 years but a lion named "Nero" once lived to the ripe old age of 29 in a West German zoo.
Lions rarely eat an entire kill. Hyenas and vultures finish the rest. Lionesses hunt in groups. While one group of lions drives the prey to a certain area, another group will wait to ambush the approaching animals.
Other lionesses in a pride will "baby-sit" a mother's cubs while she goes off to hunt.
A lioness can run as fast as 35 mph for short distances and can leap more that 30 feet.
There are only one fourth the number of lions in Africa as there were just 40 years ago.
A lion's eyesight is five times better than a human's, and it can hear prey that is more then a mile away.
Using their keen sense of smell, lions can tell if prey is nearby and even how long ago it was in the area.
It may take up to 4 hours for a pride of lions to finish eating.
A male lion eats first, even though the females actually catch the prey.
After eating, a thirsty lion may drink for as long as 20 minutes.
A captive lion eats about 15 pounds of meat each day, but a wild lion usually eats only twice a week.
Lions were once thought to magical creatures and were worshipped as gods.
Lions are the most social of all the cats, living in groups called "prides." There can be up to 40 members in a pride with over half of them being cubs and young adults.
Females will often stay with the pride their entire life, while young males are driven out.